INDIA 


The 
Indian Student After the War 


The Reign of Women in India 


oa’ , \¥ 
LF QU & eS a | | 


D, { 


After 
the 
War 


Series 


THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 
OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE U.S.A, 
156 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 


Che AJudian Student After the War 


HAT all Asia has been profoundly in- 

fluenced by the war no one cognizant of 

the facts will deny. The phrase “self- 
determination” has come to mean something 
not-only to the nations of Europe, but also to 
the nations of the Far East. 


In India as elsewhere in the East it is im- 
possible to separate the students from the 
political situation. Consequently, in dealing 
with the Indian student after the war we 
must deal with him in relation to the vast 
political game which is now under way in 
India and in the whole Empire. 


The war itself affected the Indian student 
as little as anyone in the world. He was not 
as a rule a member of those races from which 
the great majority of Indian soldiers were 
chosen. For the most part he was of con- 
siderably higher class. Very little was done 
to make him feel that he should have a part 
and when the student regiments of the Indian 
Defense force were organized the response 
from the students was disappointing. The 
pay was small and it meant taking a period 
for preparation that was badly needed in 
preparing for examinations which are the 
bugaboo of the Indian student’s life. The 
Indian army was not a democratic army as 
was ours. Caste had to be observed as strictly 
in the army as out of it. We will probably 
never know how large a part this played in 
keeping Indian students out of the war. 


\ 
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 


There is an increasing demand for re- 
formed education. While many of the stu- 
dents are satisfied with what they are receiv- 
ing as a stepping stone into the subordinate 
grades of government service, they are not 
satisfied with it as a training for future life 
in India. 


2 


It is almost impossible to predict the lines 
of study which will develop, but it seems 
almost certain that the indirect influence of 
all the educational ferment in the West must 
make itself felt in the East, especially when 
we are bringing young men from the East 
and training them in universities like Colum- 
bia and Chicago. The schools and teaching 
must become more practical. In secondary 
education, technical studies will undoubtedly 
play a larger part. A few people are begin- 
ning to demand schools developed along the 
line of Hampton Institute. The tendency 
has too long been to depend on a literary 
education to touch the masses of India. We 
know from experience that the boy at twelve 
can learn in a period of six months every- 
thing in a literary way that he could have 
learned up to that time. We are asking 
ourselves why we should not take advantare 
of this fact and use that period for the 
teaching of manual tasks. We see the gov- 
ernment laying far greater stress on agricul- 
tural education and the spread of technical 
knowledge. In the realms of higher educa- 
tion we see the University of Calcutta 
developing graduate work which has been 
recognized as on a par with that in institu- 
tions in the West. Schools like the Bose 
ea in Calcutta have made a world repu- 

ation. 


SOCIAL SERVICE 


Social service has begun to get a real 
response from the Indian student. Probably 
there is no county in the world in greater 
need of an awakening of the social conscious- 
ness. The Servants of India Society is play- 
ing a greater and greater part in helping 
students to help others. During the influ- 
enza epidemic and other epidemics of a 
similar nature students have done noble work, 
Some even giving their lives in their attempts 
to serve their less fortunate neighbors. 


3 


Classes in First Aid, which were held by the 
St. John’s Ambulance, always were well at- 
tended. : 


The Boy Scout movement also has begun 
to take hold of the boys and leaders of boys. 
This will undoubtedly influence the college 
students as well. Some of the Christian High 
Schools as well as the non-Christian are mak- 
ing plans to introduce this method of devel- 
oping manly boys. 


The part which the newspapers are playing 
in moulding student opinion is noteworthy. 
The English press is read by a very small 
minority, even of the literate of India. There 
are only 300,000 of India’s 300,000,000 who 
can read and write English. ‘This includes 
the complete student population and so we 
can follow the opinions of students pretty 
closely by the attitude of the English press 
edited by Indians. Of course the opinions of 
this type of paper are varied. The Hindu 
radicals and the Mohammedan radicals each 
have their own ideas, but on the whole we 
can find a middle ground held by students. 
On the whole the tendency of the war has 
been to draw together Hindus and Moham- 
medans and this factor will undoubtedly have 
to be dealt with by all in the future. 


ATTITUDE TOWARD RELIGION 


Religiously it is hard to make predictions 
or to see beginnings of any particular move- 
ments, yet there are a few indications. There 
is no doubt of the fact that caste is gradually 
breaking down. This fact would probably 
be noticed in all colleges, at least as far as 
eating and drinking is concerned. As regards 
marriage there are a few more indications 
of a liberal attitude developing. 


There seems to be great sympathy with 
Christian teaching, especially among the edu- 


4, 


cated classes. It is opposition to a foreign 
organization, such as the church which has 
been introduced in its Western forms into 
India, which has created a great deal of oppo- 
sition, and that opposition seems to be grow- 
ing rather than declining. Even within the 
church we find the nationalistic tendencies 
growing stronger and stronger and we can 
expect to deal with an Indian church rather 
than an imported Scotch-American-Presby- 
terian church. This movement will undoubt- 
edly be hastened by the passing on into the 
church of educated Christian students both 
as pastors and educated lay readers. (I have 
found this opposition to a foreign institution 
in every place where I have talked with 
students. ) 


Again, the idea that the exclusive claims of 
Christ conflict with the things that are fine 
and good in their own Indian civilization is 
one which seems to have gotten a severe 
hold on the educated Indian and there is little 
indication that such an idea is disappearing. 
There is no such conflict and we must make 
the Indian students realize this. Christ is 
an international figure and is not limited by 
Western church forms. The development of 
indigenous forms and celebrations to take 
the place of those which have come with mis- 
sionaries from the West will undoubtedly do 
a great deal to change this attitude. If we 
have a real message we do not need to worry 
about going to the men. They will come to 
us. I believe that there are indications of a 
willingness to respond to an appeal of dis- 
cipleship to Christ if we can make the stu- 
dent know Him. 


| 
THOMAS C. BLAISDELL, JR., 
Allahabad. 


Che Reign of Women in India 


NDIA gave her toll to the great World 

War. From remote villages, from towns 

and cities, her sons, brothers and hus- 
bands went. Those of the low castes and 
the outcastes stood side by side with the high 
castes to help the British Empire. And many 
of these heroes have returned to their homes 
no longer satisfied after having’ seen the 
great world, to take up the same duties in 
the little villages. A new era has come to 
India—the country of village life. 


Indian men have seen the position which 
women hold in other countries, especially the 
active, capable women of France. They now 
see how their women folk have remained 
behind; untrained, unprepared, unequal to 
their tasks; and these men gather around 
them their friends and relatives and declare 
that the woman of India must be a new 
woman, able to fill a new place. She must 
be educated, she must be trained to become 
a useful copartner of the educated men. As 
a highcaste Indian gentleman said to me— 
“This is going to be the ‘Reign of Women,’ ” 


As different castes have mingled in the 
armies, so in India the women of different. 
castes gathered together to rejoice over the’ 
good news, to read together the soldier’s let- 
ters, not knowing when a word might be 
told about their own particular soldier. Now, 
as the returned men mingle together, the 
mothers, wives and sisters also mingle. The 
Indian now knows, because he has seen with 
his own eyes, that India is the only country 
with a caste system. : 


OPEN DOORS 


With the crumbling of caste, the women 
of the higher classes are more easily ap- 
proached by the foreign women, and this 


6 


means that more workers are needed, to visit 
in the zenanas, to go from house to 
house. Bible women, Indian Bible-story-tell- 
ing women are needed, and they must be 
trained to go into these homes to lead these 
Indian mothers, wives and sisters into their 
larger sphere. 


Another open door is in the educational 
work for women. Girls must be taught to 
read and write. They must be fitted to help 
their brothers in business. This is startling 
news for ‘beings’ who for centuries have 
been made to believe that they were only 
earth or clay with less mind than even the 
cows or buffaloes that they took out to graze. 
Schools are needed, from the lower grades 
to the high school. Indian parents are now 
realizing that if their daughters are to get 
an education they must be allowed to remain 
in school until they are at least 16 years of 
age. The further fact that the Missionaries 
who perform marriage ceremonies for the 
daughters of Christians, advocate from 16 
years up has caused the Indian parents by 
common consent to agree to make the 
marriageable age from 16-18 instead of from 
9-12 as formerly. 


Mills and factories are now willing to take 
women workers for their light work, even 
simple machines are being operated by the 
Indian women. This gives our women other 
employment beside the labor in the fields 
which, of course, stops when there is a lack 
of rain. The mill hands are largely illiterate. 
These mills provide open doors for social 
and evangelistic work. 


AN OUTSTANDING RESULT 


The great outstanding result of the World 
War with our Christian women is that they 
have found they can be useful, that united 
efforts on their part accomplish great re- 


7 


sults. | Their broadened sympathies mean 
broader service. As they worked for the 
Red Cross, as they worked for the Belgians, 
as they saved of their little for the Arme- 
nian sufferers, so now they can keep on doing 
something for those more needy than them- 
selves. 


In some places the Christian woman has 
become the leader among the caste women, 
and she has become the leader because of 
her education, and because of her faith which 
enabled her during the transitory period to 
live a life serene and full of trust. These 
are great days. for the Christian Indian 
woman. She needs to be guided by service, 
but her taste of service for others makes 
her willing to gladly continue. She has dis- 
covered that her work has accomplished some- 
thing and this is the great incentive to go 
on doing. She is proving that the woman 
who follows the Lord, ministering of her sub- 
stance, is still a great help in establishing the 
kingdom of God. 


THE GREAT CALL 


The great call from the India “after the 
War” is for consecrated women from Amer- 
ica to come over and help. Women for 
evangelistic work, women for educational 
work and women for nurses. If the women 
of America would volunteer to help the 
women of India with half of the zeal which 
they gave to Europe during the War. a new 
‘day would surely dawn in India, the faint 


gleam of which is already semen e above the . 


horizon. 


MARIE L. GAUTHEY. 
Kadoli. 


Sept., 1919. Form No. 2678. 


